Women's Ice Hockey

Brown Falls 4-1 to Yale

New Haven, CT - Junior Sasha Van Muyen (Orillia, ON) picked up her third goal of the season, snapping a scoreless streak of 185 minutes for the Bears, but Brown was unable to muster enough offense to overcome Yale on Thursday evening, losing 4-1. Senior goalie Nicole Stock (Buffalo Grove, IL) stopped 27 shots in the game, but the Bulldogs found enough holes to establish a 3-1 lead early, and held on for the win.

Coming off two consecutive shutouts, against UConn and Providence College, the Bears wasted little time getting on the scoreboard against Yale, as they scored just over halfway through the first period. The Bulldogs got on the board first, as senior Christi Howser was able punch in a goal from close range. After a pileup in front of the net, from which it appeared that play would be whistled dead for a faceup, the puck suddenly squirted into the back of the net, giving Yale a 1-0 lead with 13:30 left in the period.

Brown wasted little time in responding, however, as Van Muyen fired in a power play score at the 10:37 mark. Though no assist was given on the play, a number of Bears touched the puck prior to the shot, as the team displayed good puck movement on the power play.

Yale capped off the scoring in the first period with a second goal with just under three minutes left in the period. Executing their power play offense, the Bulldogs dumped the puck into the right post, where Heather Grant appeared to miss most of the puck, but got just enough to have it ricochet off the post and back into the goal for a 2-1 lead heading into the locker rooms.

The Bears suffered another setback near the beginning of the second period, as Yale picked up a rebound and knocked it in for another goal just over a minute in, giving the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead. Only a few minutes later, Van Muyen had a good look on goal, as she just missed a short shot on a breakaway opportunity. Though it initially appeared that Yale would be called for a penalty, as Van Muyen was sent tumbling into the boards after the shot, Brown's Andrea Hunter (Fulton, N.Y.) was instead sent to the box for slashing.

Penalties proved to be a problem for Brown early in the period, as Yale had three power plays in the first nine minutes, but the penalty kill stepped up for the Bears, and they were able to shut down all three. Tempers flared briefly with eight minutes remaining in the period, as Yale's Howser was called for slashing and given a ten-minute misconduct penalty for hitting Stock with her stick following a save. However, Brown was similarly unable to convert the ensuing power play, and the score remained 3-1 in favor of the Bulldogs after two periods.

Brown came out hot in the third period, unleashing several quality shots early in the frame, but was unable to convert them. Hunter sent a shot just over the crossbar initially, followed by a strong shot from sophomore Samantha Stortini (Sudbury, ON) that was barely deflected wide. The Bulldogs were finally able to corral Brown's shooters, however, and regained control of the game once again.

Yale finished off the scoring with just over eight minutes remaining, as the Bulldogs stole the puck near mid-ice, then brought it back down to the Brown end of the ice before Ketchum put it into the upper right corner for the 4-1 advantage.

With this game, the Bears wrap up the first half of their schedule. They will be back in action again on January 3, when Northeastern comes to Meehan Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.